Author: News Team
International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, has announced that it has made an offer to acquire a 100 percent stake in Vueling, the Spain based low cost carrier. The company currently owns a 45.85 percent stake in Vueling and has made an offer to acquire the rest of the stock for €113 million, for an offer price of €7 per share. IAG chief executive officer, Willie Walsh, said, ‘With its leading position in Barcelona, European growth strategy and low cost base, Vueling has much to offer IAG. It has significantly increased capacity while remaining…
A recent survey has concluded that business travellers hope to have time to explore the local area when on a business trip. Around 48 percent of business travellers like to explore the neighbourhood around their hotels while on business trips, while 47 percent wished that they had more time to explore. The survey, conducted by the Hotel Indigo brand, also reported that around 21 percent of business travellers are willing to forego their business remuneration for extra time to explore the local region, while around 29 percent are willing to compromise on sleep to do so. Mary Dogan Winslow, the…
With London Heathrow airport operating at around 96 percent of its capacity, the UK authorities are looking at a proposed new hub airport to be located close to the Thames River estuary. However, according to the UK’s former transport secretary, Lord Adonis, the proposal for the project planned by architects, Foster & Partners, is likely to cost double the current valuation of £50 billion. At the recently concluded session of the World Travel Market in London, Lord Adonis said, ‘I would be surprised if we were not talking about £100 billion-plus because it would involve a second Thames barrier and…
Monarch Airlines, a UK-based airline with its main headquarters at London Luton Airport, has announced major construction work at Birmingham Airport in the West Midlands. The airline has said that it will create up to 300 jobs at Birmingham Airport with the development of a new hangar and engineering facility that is large enough to accommodate two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, or ten narrow body aircraft. It has also said that there is the likelihood of the project creating a further 150 jobs at a later stage. The company currently has five bases at airports in the UK, and operates flights…
Flybe, a UK-based airline company, has reported a loss for the six months ended September 2012, due to fall in UK domestic traffic. The airline has reported a pre-tax loss of £1.3 million for the six months ended September 2012, compared to a profit of £14.3 million for the same period in the preceding year. Flybe chief executive officer, Jim French, said, ‘Our performance for the six months to 30 September 2012 has been in line with the revised expectations set out in our Interim Management Statement of August 2012. The continuing challenges of the UK domestic aviation market further…
US Airways, a US-based airline, has announced a new service between its hub in Charlotte, and London Heathrow airport. The new daily service between Charlotte and London Heathrow commences in March 2013, and the airline will be using an Airbus A330 aircraft to service flights on the route. US Airways chairman and chief executive officer, Doug Parker, said, ‘We are thrilled to make this announcement and look forward to starting service between Heathrow and Charlotte in March. This new service will augment our existing trans-Atlantic network and provide more choices for customers in markets up and down the east coast.…
It has become custom and practice with the travelling public to check how other visitors have reviewed a hotel before placing a booking. An independent study has found that more than half (53 percent) of travellers questioned for a survey said that they will not book a hotel that does not have any reviews on the Internet. The study, conducted by PhoCusWright on behalf of TripAdvisor, a company that operates an online travel community for collating user-generated travel information, has underlined how hotel reviews have become important tools for this Internet-savvy generation of travellers, when deciding on accommodation bookings. Around…
easyJet, a UK based budget airline, is offering a new non-stop scheduled service between Manchester Airport in the UK, and Moscow, the Russian capital, for 2013. The airline is to operate four flights each way per week, and bookings for the service will be available soon. The airline has previously announced five new routes from Manchester Airport, with a fleet of eight aircraft, two of which had been recent additions. Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of easyJet, said, ‘We are pleased to announce the launch of the first ever scheduled services between Manchester and Moscow. These new services exactly fit…
UK based hotels are not realising the full potential of the Internet, according to the recent report, eCommerce in Independent Hotels 2012. While 90 percent of UK hotels offer online booking facilities on their websites, around 60 percent of them are not taking advantage of cross-selling opportunities during the online booking process. Only 38 percent of hotels are offering extra welcome amenities like flowers, chocolates, or champagne on completing an online booking process. The report also says that only 37 percent of hotels respond to every TripAdvisor review of their properties, around 6 percent of hotels permit guests to book…
Kuoni Travel Ltd, a Swiss-based travel company, is partnering with John Lewis to offer new travel concessions in four John Lewis stores in the UK. The Kuoni concessions will be available at select John Lewis stores in the UK, and will be offering the entire range of holidays from Kuoni shops, as well as creating 19 new full-time jobs. Derek Jones, the managing director at Kuoni, said, ‘We are really excited about this partnership. Kuoni and John Lewis have a lot in common; we have a very similar customer base and share the same approach to business, putting customer service…